Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge

The image conjured up by a park or wildlife refuge is a tract of pristine land, set aside from development for preservation in its natural state. And that is often the case – but not always. Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge took the opposite path – a developed property returned to the wild.

Once part of the Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant, the land was turned over the the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service more than a decade ago for development of the refuge. Buildings were demolished, utilities removed and trails blazed through the forest. Today the refuge is a remarkable work in progress.

Some of the refuge’s trails are blazed but don’t yet have a name attached to their trail heads. The park’s interpretive signs, a bird blind and other markers are trimmed in freshly cut wood. At the visitors center, a large artillery shell is a reminder of the refuge’s former self.

A six-mile-long auto tour travels the refuge’s streets through the forest, with trails that branch off here and there. The most interesting drive is along the red gravel Starr Ranch Road, which terminates at two abandoned houses and a boat ramp on Caddo Lake, though with the lake down significantly, it’s more of a mud ramp now. In summer, vast fields of yellow American Lotus stretch out on the lake into the distance.

The Starr Ranch Trail (2.5 miles) by the main house follows the edge of the lake into the forest, though views of the lake are sometimes limited by thick vegetation. The trail is rough, marked in places by red blazes, and it gets muddy during wet weather.

A thick cypress on Caddo Lake

The short Magazine Trail (0.5 mile) winds along the bank of a forest creek, but is not as clearly marked as other trails and interrupted in places by fallen trees.

The long Wildlife Observation Trail (9 miles) begins near the refuge entrance and encircles the central area of the park, following an old railroad right of way for part of its distance. It’s more developed than the other trails and open to both hiking and horseback riding.

The wetlands around Caddo Lake are home to more than 200 bird, 45 mammal and 90 reptilian and amphibian species, including alligators and one of the largest breeding populations of wood ducks and prothonatary warblers.

Near the visitors center is a facility for raising salvinia weevils – small insects that feed on the invasive giant salvinia fern that is overwhelming parts of Caddo Lake. The operation raises the weevils en masse and then releases them into the lake to rein in the salvinia’s advance.